Flash of light behind the mountain, extremely bright object rose and hung in the sky and went out, disappeared but reappeared

Observation Details

Location

Yakima, WA

46.6021°N, -120.5059°W

Washington, United States

Witness Account

I was driving eastbound on I-82 coming up the Umtanum mountains. It was 9:38pm. My 12 year old daughter was in the front seat not looking up. I frequently drive this route with her. A bright flash of light occurred in the distance behind the mountain and then a very bright white light began rising from behind the mountain [position through my windshield was at 11 o'clock to my left and started at about 45 degrees and rose to about 60 degrees]. The initial bright flash was so bright, it backlit the entire hill/mountain it occurred behind. In fact, I had thought at the time, was I seeing an explosion? {but there was no sound or blast waves}, was I seeing a flare? {but the object was very briefly illuminated, no longer than 5 seconds... so... lousy flare, maybe...}, was it lightning? {but the skies were totally clear}.

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